Archive for the Bloomberg Category

Another public-facing change loyal readers are sure to notice: Bloomberg killed its comments section. Lots of media companies, from Recode to Reuters, have done this lately, which Topolsky said made him more confident in the decision. He says both writers and editors are more comfortable engaging with readers on external social platforms, where they’re likely to reach a more representative percentage of the audience.

“I’ve looked at the analytics on the commenting community versus overall audience. You’re really talking about less than one percent of the overall audience that’s engaged in commenting, even if it looks like a very active community,” he says. “In the grand scheme of the audience, it doesn’t represent the readership.”

Nothing about the new Bloomberg is set in stone; Topolsky says the entire process is iterative, and that includes the comments. The digital team will be monitoring reader behavior across desktop and mobile to see how they’re reacting to and interacting with the new site. For example, on launch day, they experimented with header height so see what readers like better. On mobile, where they’re working to “find the right balance between design and imagery and text,” Topolsky plans to experiment with different formats — more text versus more color versus a grid — to figure out what draws readers in.

New York, NY – Bloomberg today announced the launch of Bloomberg Business, the company’s flagship digital destination that unifies its most powerful media assets to deliver a modern news experience, built for today’s global web consumer. Microsoft Corporation is the global sponsor of the launch.

Bloomberg Business is the centerpiece of Bloomberg’s new media strategy, first announced by Bloomberg Media CEO Justin B. Smith in March 2014. Bloomberg aims to build the leading, next-generation media company for global business by creating a portfolio of digitally-led, multi-platform brands that broaden Bloomberg’s core audience beyond its traditional finance roots, towards global business.

Bloomberg Business will combine and replace Bloomberg.com and Businessweek.com. The mobile-first site is powered by a new cutting-edge, custom technology platform developed within Bloomberg internally. Bloomberg Business carries the editorial DNA of Bloomberg News – factual, reliable, credible, authoritative, lightning-fast journalism at a global scale, and of Businessweek – one of the most lauded magazines in the world, with hallmark design and deep, insightful, sharp, and at times, irreverent reporting.

For the first time ever, a digital editorial team, led by Bloomberg Media’s Chief Digital Content Officer Joshua Topolsky, will marry the strengths of Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Businessweek, Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg’s digital video operation, with ambitious new web original content – all on the Bloomberg Business platform.

In addition to the new Bloomberg Business site, Bloomberg TV is getting a revamp that will look to borrow Businessweek’s attitude. Josh Tyrangiel, Bloomberg Media’s chief content officer, was short on details about the TV network’s new look and feel, but identified one tricky goal: Making it cool.

“We’ve made a couple of very important philosophical decisions of what we want to be and now we’re at the pace of filling in the boxes,” Mr. Tyrangiel said. “So you are going to turn it on and say, Well that’s unexpected.”

“The challenge is to make it cool and cool is a very difficult thing to define,” he added. “Lots of people have lots of opinions about what is cool. But you know it when you see it.”

Spearheading this change is Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith, who reports to Michael Bloomberg, according to a memo Mr. Bloomberg sent to staff this week.

The Guardian’s John Plunkett writes that Dafydd Rees has been tapped to head up Bloomberg’s European, African, and Middle East TV…

Bloomberg Media has hired the head of Sky News’ business unit to take charge of its TV coverage across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Dafydd Rees is the latest in a string of high-profile hirings at Bloomberg, including Ben Clissitt from the Telegraph Media Group as director of digital content, and Adam Freeman – Guardian News & Media’s former commercial director – as its first managing director for the EMEA region.

Rees, a former senior journalist at the BBC, will be responsible for overseeing the channel’s news coverage, programming, development and operations.

He previously executive-produced Sky News show Jeff Randall Live and worked on its breakfast show, Sunrise. At the BBC he worked on BBC Radio 5 Live breakfast among other roles.

Half a year has elapsed since Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith called digital video “a golden asset,” promising “large bets” on video content and distribution as part of “a new direction” for Bloomberg’s media business. Since then, video has increasingly taken center stage on Bloomberg’s digital properties — and viewership has spiked.

Paul Marcum, a former GE marketing executive Smith hired in December, is responsible for much of that growth. After a brief stint as Bloomberg’s head of digital innovation, Marcum has served as the business publisher’s head of digital video, overseeing its video content, distribution channels and partnerships. The new role couldn’t have come at a better time, he said.

“What we are seeing now is a new ubiquity of video, especially on desktop,” Marcum told Digiday. “Users are increasingly accepting video as an integral part of their experience.”

Bloomberg has announced two key appointments for its newly-created politics vertical: Tom Johnson has been named executive editor and Pat King has been appointed senior producer.

Johnson joins Bloomberg after 20 years at ABC News, where he was most recently senior broadcast producer of “World News with Diane Sawyer.” In a note to staff this morning, Bloomberg senior executive editor Josh Tyrangiel praised Johnson’s “spectacular mix of talent and temperament—his colleagues at ABC note that he’s usually the smartest guy in the room, and rarely feels the need to remind anyone of it.”

King comes to Bloomberg after nine years at “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” where he was most recently a segment producer. Tyrangiel — who noted “he’s not here to make the show funny” — called King “a passionate observer of national politics with a tremendous instinct for research.”

In addition to overseeing the politics vertical, Johnson and King will serve as executive producer and senior producer, respectively, for the daily politics show with Mark Halperin and John Heilemann slated to launch in October.

The First in Series of New Brands, Bloomberg Politics will be led by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann

New York — Bloomberg Media Group CEO Justin B. Smith and Bloomberg News Editor-In-Chief Matthew Winkler today announced Bloomberg Politics – the first in series of new digital-led, multi-platform brands that will live across all Bloomberg platforms. In March, Bloomberg announced a new, broad strategy for consumer media properties, including the development of new digital assets and a multi-platform approach. Bloomberg Politics, the first of the brands being launched under this new direction, will be created, launched, and overseen by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, who will also lead political coverage across all Bloomberg platforms – Web, mobile, television, digital video, print magazines, radio, live events and more.

The series of new Bloomberg brands, including Bloomberg Politics, will deliver Bloomberg coverage in targeted content environments, providing greater depth, context and community for each topic area​. Bloomberg Politics will serve as a model to be replicated by the subsequent new brands, most of which will be squarely focused on the global business market. Each of the new brands will be developed through a deep partnership between Bloomberg Media and Bloomberg News, fully leveraging the skills, strengths, and resources of all Bloomberg News bureaus.Continue reading →